So Cliché it Hurts
by Whisper6636
Summary: Popular boy Len falls for outcast girl Rin. Well, actually, he's not that popular and she's not that much of an outcast. Still, he falls for her and eventually wins her over and the two of them live happily ever after. But what about the heartbroken Tei left in their wake? Oneshot, rated T to be safe.


**A/N: Not to sink anyone's ship, but I'm just really tired of all the Popular!Len x Outcast!Rin and vice versa ****floating around. It's just...ugh. Stop. We've had enough. Or at least I have.**

**Ship what you want. Dust knows I do. I'm just sick of the lack of originality. ...Although, that's kind of hypocritical, seeing as I wrote in like a ton of cliché junk here, but still.**

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><p>Tei was a violent girl.<p>

Even she would admit to that. And about everyone was aware of her obsession with Kagamine Len; it was the only real reason anyone outside of his class knew his name. So when it was found out that he was dating Kagamine Rin, a lesser-known girl in his class, it was assumed—admittedly within reason—that the girl would die by the hands of one Sukone Tei.

This was not the case.

In actuality, Rin seemed unharmed and happy as ever, while Tei was absent from school every day for a long week. And when she came back, she seemed no different from before, except for her absolute lack of interest in Len. Strangely enough, this frightened everyone far more than if she'd walked into the school flinging knives. That was expected; this...wasn't. Of course, it never occurred to them to wonder _why_ she hadn't shown up in days.

The truth was, Tei had spent the majority of the past week crying over Len. She could honestly say she hadn't expected it to hurt this much when he inevitably found someone else, but it did, and her own tears had spilled before the other girl's blood. Unexpectedly enough. Yet she found that she didn't want to hurt the blonde. In part because of her uncanny resemblance to Len, but mostly because Tei wanted Len to be happy, and she knew that wouldn't be possible if anything happened to the girl he'd fallen for. So she forced herself to get over him, and the scary part was, it almost worked.

Almost.

Tei had nothing to do now that she'd decided to forget Len. Her only hobby not involving him (directly, that is) was her blade maintenance, which included collecting, polishing, sharpening, and using blades of various shapes and sizes, and that could only keep her busy for so long. Her friend Mayu suggested she find a new target, but no one could seem to keep her interest the way Len had. And, seeing as her only skills lay in weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, there wasn't much else she could pick up. The whole dilemma was just very frustrating, so she let off steam the best way she knew how.

"If it wasn't for that stupid _whore_ I wouldn't have to deal with this!" she practically yelled. Okay, second-best way: whining to her best feminine non-stalker friend.

Who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and an expression that clearly said, "_This_ is what I'm wasting my time for?" Not that this was spoken aloud, of course. What _was_ said aloud was a simple, "Sounds harsh."

Tei made a face that she'd never admit was a pout. "Wow, Ritsu. I can just feel all the genuine emotion you're pouring out from your very soul. Thank you _so_ much for being _such_ a supportive friend."

The boy—she had to remind herself sometimes that Ritsu was, in fact, a boy—rolled his eyes. "Well, would you rather I be honest? Because in that case, don't be upset that I think this whole thing's just stupid."

She gawked at him; he took this as an opportunity to continue.

"So you won't get a chance with Len; big deal. You'll find other guys. Better guys. Guys that aren't Len. Maybe even a girl, I don't know what you're into. Doesn't matter. All I'm saying is, Len's not worth it."

The time it had taken him to speak was all she needed to regain her composure. "What right do you have to say...any of that?! You don't know him!" Okay, so maybe "composure" was the wrong word.

Ritsu looked angry now. "What, and you do? Stalking someone doesn't qualify as knowing them, sweetie."

"Then how would you know whether he was worth it?!" Oh, wonderful, she was shouting now. Good thing they were alone.

"Because I know you! I know what you say about him! And anyone who won't give you a chance doesn't deserve you!"

She didn't have a reply for that. Instead she stared at him, anger dissipating like mist. It wasn't that he'd said anything really weird; after all, didn't friends say that kind of thing all the time? It was more the look in those viridian eyes as he'd said it, the subtle gleam of some deep and hidden feeling, and the passion with which he'd spoken.

And the profuse blush covering his cheeks like wildfire as he realized the implications of his words. That didn't help.

He snapped his gaze away, refusing to meet her eyes. "I-I mean...all this time, you've been chasing after him and he knew it, but he never gave you a second thought. You'd always come and gush about how great he was, but even then he only ever looked at that Rin girl, or any other girl, and never you. That's why I think...he doesn't deserve you. He's not worth all this trouble."

Tei felt her heart pounding. Was...was Ritsu saying he'd been watching her, even as she watched Len? That he'd noticed her, paid attention to her, remembered everything she'd said...?

There was a strange fluttery feeling in her chest. Heat spread across her face. She couldn't deal with this. Not right now. It was scaring her, and everyone knew that Sukone Tei did not get scared. But she had no idea what to do.

So she left.

Literally turned around and left.

He didn't stop her, even though she knew he wanted to.

When she got home, she cried again. But for a completely different reason than she had been lately. One she wasn't sure she could identify.

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><p>All of this, of course, had happened over the week she was absent, which was why she no longer showed interest in Len—she'd taken Ritsu's words to heart. It was true, she'd known even while she obsessed over him; Len didn't care about her in the least. And she was realizing that she didn't care much for him, either. All her "love" for him had been little more than fascination blown up to look like something it wasn't.<p>

She felt empty now.

And then there was the issue with Ritsu. Had his words been a confession? This probably could've been solved if she only asked him directly, but just that was harder than she knew it needed to be. The fact that they were in different classes only made avoiding this easier. And her escaping to the rooftop during lunch wasn't exactly helping.

In fact, she was there now, staring out listlessly over the cityscape without really seeing it. She started as a hand just sort of appeared on her shoulder, but relaxed at the sight of her blonde best friend. "Frig, SeeU, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

SeeU rested her hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised. "I literally said your name twenty-four times. At least half of those I was actually shouting."

Tei felt herself blush. "I, uh...I guess I didn't hear you."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Right. So what's bothering you?"

"W-what?" Ah, she'd stuttered. That was no good. "Nothing's bothering me."

"You just stuttered."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did. You never stutter."

"Well, I didn't stutter now."

"Liar."

"No I'm not. I didn't stutter."

"But something _is_ bothering you."

"So what?"

"Tell me."

"It's fine. I'm fine."

"Fine people don't stutter."

Tei ran a hand through her hair frustratedly. "It doesn't matter, okay?" she near-spat. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. And everyone stutters, fine or not."

"I don't stutter," SeeU pointed out. "Fine or not."

"Well, you're never fine."

"Excuse me, honey," she shot back as she tossed her hair over her shoulder, "I am _always_ fine."

Tei gave her a blank stare.

"Okay, look," the gold-haired girl began, serious again. "I know something's wrong, and whether you tell me or not, you're going to have to face whatever it is eventually. But it'll be easier if you talk to someone about it. Namely me." Here she paused, but Tei remained stubbornly silent. With a sigh she added, "If you aren't ready to talk, I can respect that. But I'm available when you need me."

Tei turned back to stare at nothing in particular again as her friend left, but she considered SeeU's words. She would, at some point, have to confront Ritsu or be confronted by him. They couldn't just ignore this...whatever this was. She valued his friendship too much to sacrifice it over something so insignificant.

But if he really did have feelings for her? What then? There was no way things could be quite the same between them. And could she reciprocate? Remembering the odd feeling she'd gotten when they last talked, she almost thought that maybe she could.

She checked the time. About fifteen minutes left in lunch. Alright.

Mentally and emotionally preparing herself, she turned, ready to bolt down to Ritsu's class and try to talk through this mess. She didn't get far, though; rather, she ran into someone. Someone apparently like a stone wall, because it felt like they didn't budge as she fell back. Though, she didn't reach the ground, as said someone caught her before she could. She probably should've prepared herself physically, too.

Opening her eyes to see who her stone wall savior was, her heart just about stopped.

It was the princess himself.

"Are you okay?" Ritsu asked her. The angle of his head was casting a shadow on his face as his hair fell around her. Tei decided this was not good for her frantic heart.

"F-fine," she said, regaining her footing and pushing away from him. Oh, she'd stuttered again. Lovely. "I was...just coming to talk to you, actually."

"Oh."

Sudden silence. He was wearing the girls' uniform, Tei noted, and wow he wore it well. She remembered occasionally seeing him in the guys' uniform, and with his hair tied back and missile-breasts absent, he looked good in that too. How unfair, that such an androgynous body could be so attractive.

Ah, wait. Now was not the time for such thoughts.

"The other night," she blurted. Might as well get this over with. "You...said things."

Ritsu nodded slowly. "I did."

"What..." Tei stopped, took a breath, tried again. "What did you mean?"

He shrugged, looking away. "Everything I said."

"No, I mean..." She found herself trailing off again. Ugh. Why was this so difficult? "You know what I mean. _Why_ did you say those things? What weren't you telling me? What _aren't_ you telling me?"

He breathed in, released it in a sigh. "Are you absolutely sure you want to know?"

No. No she wasn't. In fact, she was fairly sure she _didn't _want to know. But she nodded anyway. What a traitorous body she had lately.

"Fine." He paused again. Then, "I'm jealous."

Tei echoed his earlier sentiment. "Oh."

Ritsu apparently hadn't finished, though. "I was jealous of Len. He had all your attention. You never seemed to notice anyone else. I've been your friend for years and yet you didn't realize how I felt until I just said it. Right?"

Tei didn't respond. She couldn't. And anyway, Ritsu already knew the answer. He sighed.

"I just wanted you to know. So I'll be off now." He turned and started to leave, but was stopped as she grabbed his arm. He glanced at her, jade eyes surprised and curious.

Her own eyes expressed similar emotions in their crimson depths. _The frick am I doing?!_ Still, she didn't let go, and instead started speaking, words she'd never realized she wanted to say. "Why can't you just say it, then? Tell me plainly how you feel. I'm listening."

They just sort of stared at each other for a long minute. Tei let go of his arm since it was starting to feel uncomfortable. A slight breeze kicked up just then, softly blowing his long vermillion hair. _Hair doesn't move like that, does it?_ she thought absently. _And wind doesn't have timing that perfect, right?_

Then, finally, Ritsu's voice broke the silence. "I like you. I might love you. That's how I feel."

Well, then.

The silver-headed girl wasn't sure what to say. She'd kind of expected something of that nature, yes, but that didn't mean she knew how to answer. Not in the least. The only thing she could choke out was, "Why?"

He rolled his shoulders. "It just happened, I guess. One day I woke up and realized I liked you. I mean, believe me, I had to think on it for a long time just to make sure and...yeah."

Tei now felt extraordinarily awkward. She supposed that usually happened when one of your best friends confessed to you. Not that she'd had previous experience.

It didn't help that she'd started to question her own feelings for the crossdresser. Like, why had her heart started pounding minutes ago and still not stopped? Why was her face burning? Why did it seem like she couldn't meet his eyes? Could it all just be because of his words? Or did it run deeper?

_Frigging feelings._

She tried to speak, but her voice cracked. She cursed inwardly, hating this unfamiliar...what? Shyness? Discomfort? Embarrassment? Ugh; she started again. "Ritsu."

He tilted his head inquisitively, and she found that the new angle caused the light to hit him in a way that rendered her momentarily speechless. She shook her head, cheeks aflame as she forced herself to continue.

"You've been honest, so...I will, too. Ever since the other night, I...I've been trying to figure out how I feel about you. And...I'm still not sure. I don't know what exactly it is making me feel like I do, and it's fricking annoying, so..." Long pause here. But she had to say it. Too late to go back, even if she convinced herself to. So. Deep breath. And:

"Do you wanna go out? J-just to see how it works out."

Oh, wonderful, she'd stuttered yet again. This was getting to be a bad habit.

Ritsu hadn't seemed to notice, though. He was too busy processing her words, apparent by the way his face was only a few shades off from the color of his absurdly beautiful hair.

_I'm doing it again._

After what Tei calculated to be exactly fifty-three seconds of silence, Ritsu's soft response was, "...Seriously?"

Her eyes rolled, an automatic reaction. "No, I just poured my heart out to mock you. Yes, seriously!"

A stupid—and, Tei would never admit, seductive—grin stretched across his expression. "Then yes, that seems like a logical course of action."

"So, um," she started, eyes flicking around almost unsurely. "What do people who go out even do? Do we have to give each other pet names and hold hands everywhere or something?"

Okay, now his grin was _definitely_ seductive. "We could." He was suddenly closer, Tei not knowing when he'd moved but finding that she didn't mind. "Or..." His hand was caressing her cheek, moving down her jaw, holding her chin. Despite not being much taller than her, he almost loomed now. "We could try—"

He was silenced as she captured his lips with her own. She could feel his chuckle vibrating in his throat as they pressed closer, lips moving in synchrony as though to some song only they knew.

And she knew something else. She most definitely like Ritsu. This kind of thing wasn't supposed to feel so good otherwise, right? Right. Exactly. Because she'd totally know anything about that.

Eventually they had to break apart for air, of course, and emerald eyes met scarlet as they gazed at each other. And then they broke down laughing. How romantic.

"I've...never actually done that," Tei gasped, mouth stretched into a smile.

"Neither have I," Ritsu admitted, face bearing a similar expression.

"We...should get back to class," said Tei, standing and offering a hand to Ritsu. He took it and stood, but didn't let go as he started back toward the stairs. At her curious look, he grinned.

"Couples hold hands all the time, right?"

She beamed, feeling stupid but not caring, and caught up with him. "I guess they do, Kyabetsu."

He laughed. "_That's_ supposed to be a pet name?"

She shrugged, cheeks puffed. "It fits."

He snickered, but said nothing else. Hands interlocked and smiling like fools, they both headed back to class together.

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><p><strong>AN: I am in no way a romantic writer. I can grasp angsty feelings and that's about it. So I'm sorry for this abomination. But this ship wouldn't sink; I had to write for it. Because that's logical.**

**How does one even write kiss scenes? I feel so awkward and weird just writing them that I can't imagine how it is to read them. I'm still so sorry.**


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